Eternally Blood Bound (Rewrite)
by Salvatoreboys4ever
Summary: "Keep Elena away from here." "Yeah, cause that'll be easy." "Promise me, no matter what happens. You'll protect her." "I promise." What if that promise was so much harder to keep? What if a monster who has fantasized his revenge for decades follows Elena there? Can they all survive a day from hell? How will it change each of them? DELENA endgame with some Stefan. Dark fic Intense
1. In the Darkness

**_A/N: Hey all you sweet and faithful readers. Welcome too to anyone that has never read my work before. I'd love to know what you think and help you escape the stresses in your life just for a little while as you read about our beloved Delena. I don't know if I will ever write for anyone else at least as of yet for no one has come close to how I feel for these precious characters and their journey. The cast of VD has been iconic in my life and helped me through a very dark time years ago when the show started._**

 ** _Its my birthday today! Yeah! Novemeber 1st and like last year I wanted to give you guys something from my heart._**

 ** _I had started writing this series years ago as a brand new fan fiction author and not known at all by anyone on this site. I fast discovered my love for writing and how much it soothed my health issues that I faced daily. Social anxiety and a ringing in my ears that could produce bad headaches too. So alone time became my safe place as much as I missed connecting with people socially it was like work to strain to listen and I came back from nights out wiped out emotionally and physically. So I stayed in more and learned to love writing and built friendships with fellow authors and readers over the years._**

 ** _So this was story was my first ever FF then but I always felt a niggling that I should rewrite it at least book 1. I feel like I could give it more depth, more Delena and more moments to cherish as well as danger and excitement too. I love writing thriller romances and it showed in my very well received Captive of her Beauty that I am working on a sequel for as well. I have grown a lot as an author since I first posted this story years ago and since I am working on book 4 now I felt I owed it an overhaul._**

 ** _I hope you like it and will follow this version to give more depth to those reading book 4 Aching Hearts Innocent Blood right now. This is my version of season 2 and forward._**

* * *

 _Elena was panting, feeling the sweat slide in beaded drops down her sides under her clothes. She fought to pull her eyes open as she felt an unknown pressure, a body over her as she lay on the cold ground. Someone was straddling her, leaning over her. She could feel breath against her cold cheek._

 _But nothing about this person felt familiar. She didn't feel any warmth in their hands on her as they started to peruse her prone body. She felt cold, the shivers from her fear racing down her spine as she again fought to open her eyes._

 _Their were small granules of sand and rock beneath her open palms. Where was she? What was happening? How did she get here and why, why couldn't she open her eyes? There were voices, not clear but they were there. The heaviness on her did not move no matter how much she tried to push it off. Its weight was suffocating and she could hardly take in another breath._

 _Finally her eyes opened and she blinked rapidly, desperately trying to clear the hazy images in front of her. As they started adjusting to the darkness she could just barely make out someone in a hood._

 _They were the weight leaned over her._

 _Lips shrouded in the darkness around them, curled up into a wicked grin. Dark beady eyes stared at her from the shadows created by the hood. Those eyes were terrifying and she saw them fixated on her, hungry with lust. She sucked in a deep breath, fighting to escape, screamed and shut her eyes…_

* * *

 _Then an instant later she felt pain, so much pain, as she hit the ground hard and the room she was in was spinning. She felt herself being dragged...by her hair and cried out, begging pleading to no avail. She was thrown down, her whole body felt the jarring of her muscles and bones as she hit the ground again._

 _His hand moved from his side with purpose, till it was leveled in front of him. Elena tried to see what he was focused on. She saw a shape in his hand, and heard a click a second before the echos of a gunshot hit every wall around her. Its sound deafening as it delivered its fatal blow and she saw someone fall but could not make out who._

 _Slamming her eyes closed again Elena screamed, squeezing them shut so tightly till the scene faded, the sounds growing quieter around her. Was it over?_

* * *

 _When she opened them this time, the room wasn't spinning but there was the coppery taste of blood in her mouth. She could feel it too dripping down her face. She felt so weak and lifting her arm it felt sticky. Her whole arm was bloody. Elena closed her eyes tightly for the third time, willing the image away. It had felt far too real. What the hell was happening to her?_

* * *

 _Every time she opened her eyes to try to escape there was something new there; each image more horrifying than the last. She heard crying and begging and it seemed like it came from her own mouth. The fearful cries echoed in the small, dark space as she fought to pull herself away from everything surrounding her._

 _There was no escape. No light. Nowhere to run, even if she could run._

 _Elena could feel a man's strong, bare chest against her fist as she pounded on it. Blinking faster, she saw there was no blood on her hands like before. The wall of muscle caging her in against him was immoveable, even with her fighting with all her strength. The man let her hit him, over and over as she sobbed._

 _The fear was different now, like she was being betrayed. Like somehow her mind conjured up that he was supposed to save her when instead he had never intended to. His head was low, near hers, she could feel his hot breaths against her face. Her eyes slammed shut again as he grabbed for her flailing fists and held her wrists in his hands. She was far too scared to look up at his face._

* * *

Elena awoke panting as she sat up fast. Her brown eyes adjusted to the dim light around her and she let out a heaving gasp!

She was in her room, in her own bed. Not trapped in the darkness, bleeding and tossed to the ground. Fighting a man's hands on her wrists, someone's body over hers, forcing her into submission was crazy. Everything had felt so real. SO vivid.

Soft brown locks were flung back and forth as her head moved and her eyes darted around her. She was alone and it was late, maybe the middle of the night. Her journal was laying open to her side on the bed, the pen tucked in the crease between pages. Had she fallen asleep writing? This was nothing but a dream, a horrible dark nightmare?

Elena fell back down into the softness of the pillows and stared up at the ceiling. She could hear the soft pattering of rain against her windows and the gusts of wind outside. The sky lit up all around her dark room as lightning flashed, showing shadows of the tree branches across her ceiling. It hadn't been raining when she went to bed. What else had happened?

She struggled to remember the previous day before shutting her eyes fast as thunder rumbled through the sky. She had gone with Rose, tricking her into turning herself in to Klaus to protect her friends. It had almost worked if Rose hadn't called Damon...and he had come running to stop her.

He didn't understand. None of them did. She couldn't lose them. Risk Klaus killing them all, just to take her away so he could break the curse.

Damon had been furious to say the least and had threatened to carry her out of there over his shoulder like an insolent child. She had balked, fought back and made him even more upset, physically fighting back at him before the enemy burst through the door.

More lightning, followed by deep booms of thunder ripped though the sky and the rain fell harder against the house, spattering on the panes of glass as she moved off the bed to hurriedly lock the windows.

Thinking back again, she had thought she was ready to turn herself over. But the moment they arrived, her heart started to pound and she was frantically trying to talk herself out of it. She knew she needed to protect her friends, Damon included.

However, faced with the strange men that wanted to take her away from everything and everyone she knew and loved, she felt herself shaking, even as she said she told them she was there and ready to go with them.

Damon was not taking it, any of it and she saw fury in his eyes at the men advancing on them. She had felt frozen behind him, and so so grateful he was there. Her words said differently but she knew deep down that no matter what she did, it felt like no one won. She either lost the people she loved to their own deaths at Klaus' hand, just like he killed Katherine's whole family. Or she lost them by her own death. Everything about either of those choices terrified her.

Stefan was in the tomb, trapped with Katherine of all people. She remembered that Damon guilted her that he might have been able to save his brother from that stupid predicament if she hadn't had him racing after her to save her life again. She hadn't wanted to be saved, she had told him over and over but he just refused to let her martyr herself.

She had fought in Damon's arms for the second time that day and he did not back down. He simply let her pummel him till she exhausted herself. She slumped almost into his arms as his eyes found hers. She was furious that he was refusing to let her see Stefan and she turned and ran up the steps out of the tomb, determined to sneak back to see him later once her damn bodyguard had left her alone.

* * *

There was a soft rap at her closed window and she whirled toward the sound. Moving across the room to the window Elena nearly jumped out of her skin as the lightning flashed again and she could clearly see a figure through the sheer curtains!

Damon…

Elena recognized his silhouette instantly. He had his head bent low toward the window, his whole body crouched down from springing up from the ground.

Unlocking the window she studied him huddled up on her window sill. "Hey," she greeted him coolly ignoring the rain dripping down his cheeks from the tips of his hair. He looked like a drowned rat and she knew he hated to get wet.

She wasn't going to let him in. She was still mad at him. Mad that he prevented her from seeing Stefan, and that they spent the whole ride home in silence after what happened at Slater's loft. He had even escorted her right to her door with nothing but snappy, barbed comments about how stupid she had been.

The raven haired vampire tilted his head up, his eyes shimmering in the darkness, the blue so brilliant against the whites of his eyes. He was startlingly attractive, even soaking wet and she pushed that lose and inappropriate thought from her mind instantly.

He was her boyfriend's brother, nothing more.

She had even told him he had lost her as a friend too after he had killed Jeremy in drunken despair of her pushing him away. He had admitted he didn't see the ring. The ring that had brought him back to life. Her brother would have been dead without that ring. So when Damon did finally admit that he hadn't seen it before he killed him she told him that had sealed his fate in her eyes. He wanted to be hated and he got his wish.

The rain kept falling all over him, running down in trails from his hair to his cheeks and jaw, sliding down his neck. Tracks of water spread all over on his leather jacket and soaking his dark washed jeans. He stared back at her, annoyance clear in his tone. She was standing in his way of getting into her room and she knew he would have to physically move her to get out the rain.

"How long are you going to punish me before you let me in Elena? It's pouring out here." His voice was low with impatience, holding just the faintest whine in its tone. Yet strangely despite his very obvious annoyance, he waited for her invitation.

She was already shivering from the cold wind swirling around her body. Wearing only a thin purple lace tank top and plaid cotton shorts, she felt the rain even sweep into the room, the wind carrying it to fall like mist all along her exposed skin.

Elena was enjoying this rare moment of power over him. He easily could have bodily moved her aside to get out of the rain but he wasn't. She thought she even caught him shiver as he stayed hunched up on the narrow ledge.

"Are you sorry for treating me like a child, Damon?" Her hands had moved to cross in front of her body over her chest. But his first reaction to her petulance looked to be a teasing, flirty look back at her, as his gaze fell to her cleavage created by her crossed arms.

She huffed and rolled her eyes, her hands going to her hips, her face a mask of shaky indifference. She hated his constant teasing at least she was telling herself she did. Lately he had been more annoyed and short with her than teasing in any way.

Dark blue eyes seared her own. "Sorry? Um no Elena. You _were_ acting like a child. I saved your life. I'm not sorry!" He snapped at her, his words biting in its delivery. Damon sighed, his eyes holding her stubborn gaze. "Are you going to let me or what? This is how you treat the neighborhood watch, just trying to keep you safe."

"Yes fine Damon fine." She backed away letting him by and he swung his legs onto her window seat from the sill and stood up closing the window behind him, blocking out the cold gusts of wind. The loud sounds of the storm were now muffled by the closed window and he pulled the thick curtain across it before turning back to her.

"I am safe Damon. I can take care of myself." She wanted to sound tough but her heart always gave away how she really felt.

"You are safe now, Elena. With me."

She breath shook ever so slightly as she took a gulp of the cool air around them.

There were no more words between them. She knew he was here to guard her and prevent her from sneaking off to see Stefan. He would not just leave but obviously he didn't want to stay outside in the storm.

Elena watched him standing in her room, looking like he was trying to suppress shivers. She thought vampire didn't get cold. Maybe he was faking it for her to take pity on him. She cursed herself that it was working and she felt bad for leaving him out in the rain as long as she did.

Feeling chilled too Elena moved to slip on her robe laying on her chair. She strode quickly to the bathroom, grabbed up a few towels before turning back, nearly jumping out of her skin!

Thunder and lightning had been growing steadily louder, but this crack of thunder hit just as she spun to see him right in front of her and not across the room like before!

"Damon!" she cried out and felt her body waver. She placed a palm flat on his chest to catch herself from falling and a second later felt his hands curl around her arms to steady her. She could feel the roughness of the leather beneath her hand before pulling back again.

"Stop doing that!" she snapped at him as she saw a half smirk curling on his lips. Damon had blurred himself right behind her and was waiting with his hand out for the towels. Her body froze at his nearness. They had been toe to toe in the loft before, his head only inches from hers. She could feel his angry exhales on her skin then and as he held her balled fist in his hand moving even closer.

Closer, like he was now before she suddenly thrust the towels in his open arms and backed away. She struggled to slow her own breathing as she knew he could hear it racing now and how much faster it went as he was so close.

He chuckled wiping his face of all the water droplets and padding his head to dry it. "You can't say you didn't deserve it E-lena. Are we even now? You stop with the stubborn stupidity and I stop..."

"Being a jackass?" she finished for him with her own smirk on her face. She scoffed openly. "Even?" Not even close. But she did not voice the last part. But it felt good to call him on his crap too. She spun away from him to face the bathroom and brushed her hand over her face, wiping the stray damp strands of hair back. She was still shivering, her bare feet like ice on the cold floor.

He hadn't given her a snarky remark back and the only sounds as it grew quiet between them was the raging storm outside. Elena was debating having a shower to warm up she felt so cold. But she wasn't going to dare do that while Damon was still in her room. Curling up under her covers might not be the best idea either. So she stayed standing, shivering turned away from him not sure what to do.

A moment later Elena felt warmth on her shoulders and turned to one side to see him gently draping a towel around her. She gave him a terse smile pulling the corners of the towel in to wrap her more in it.

"Thank you," she managed to mumble, knowing he could hear the smallest whispers of any humans.

He was silent, pulling the soaking wet leather jacket off him. Elena moved closer and told him she could leave it hanging in the bathroom to dry by the vent. He nodded and passed it to her. She slipped into the bathroom, hung it up and paused at the mirror. She looked tired, her face seemed to be paler than normal and she stretched her skin slightly.

Her inner voice scolded her. What did she care how she looked with Damon in her bedroom? He had been there other times and it had been fine. It was going to be fine. Stefan had nothing to worry about since he was trapped in the tomb.

But he was with Katherine. The 500 year old bitch had been more than clear about her interest in getting Stefan back.

She shook her head, jarring her wandering thoughts. No, she trusted Stefan. He would never do that to her.

Taking in a deep breath Elena smoothed her hair back into a loose high bun and walked back out to face Damon. She had no idea if he was planning to spend the whole night in her room.

Walking out, the shadows in her room were playing tricks on her. He wasn't where she had left him and instead was curled up on her window seat, his long legs folded up toward the opposite wall. She saw he had taken her red throw blanket off her bed and had draped it over his shoulders. His eyes were closed, long lashes hiding her from his piercing gaze. He was asleep, or maybe he just didn't want to talk anymore.

She turned back to her bed, walking as quietly as she could and slipped under the covers. The soft white duvet crinkled under her fingers as she pulled it up to her chin. She wanted to sleep, but her eyes kept getting drawn to his sleeping form. That could not be comfortable like that and yet there he was all curled up on her small window seat.

Elena fought her inner voice, which seemed to be very aware of how uncomfortable she was around Damon, telling herself not to invite him to her bed. He looked like he would be fine there.

She knew Stefan had begged his brother to protect her, no matter what and she assumed that meant even from herself. So having him sleep in her room was a form of that protection and she was grateful for both of them and how much they cared about her.

Maybe this way she would not have any more of those vivid and horrible nightmares. The lightning flashed again, illuminating his prone figure as his head leaned more against the wall by the window. He was half sitting up in his position so his legs were not cramped. He was facing her but she could not tell if he was watching her back, his face hidden in the shadows.

No she would leave him. If he asked to sleep here then that would be another dilemma altogether but she wasn't going to go looking for trouble. Trouble found her quick enough all on its own.

Her eyelids started to droop as she turned and curled up more into her pillow. She was safe. No one would get to her, Klaus or otherwise with Damon protecting her. He would die for her. That thought alone had shook her to her core.

She watched as he pulled her behind him back at the loft. His muscles tensed the second the men burst in. She could see how determined he was. And then Elijah came in asking the other vampires questions. Damon had kept her back behind him and she was sure he was scrambling for another way out of there.

Elijah's hands darted out and he plunged them both into the chests of the vampires. Within the same second he ripped their hearts out and dropped them to the ground as the bodies fell.

Elena's eyes kept going back to the man, the vampire laying on her window-seat and she struggled to find sleep. Her mind was racing with all that had happened. She had seen Damon take a huge breath and tighten his stance, every muscle tensed and ready to leap at the Original vampire below. His expression, his rage, barely contained said with every fiber of his being...he would die for her.

Elena shivered at the look on his face as she moved more forward to try to pull him back. She could not watch him die for her. She couldn't lose him.

It felt like a lot had changed in those heart pounding seconds. He was ready to die for her.

They both had been ready to die too when she had been captured by Rose and Damon and Stefan both risked their lives to save her. She had run down the steps and had been so overwhelmed with relief. Elena had seen Damon waiting at the bottom on the stairs, his gaze fixated on her and she had run. Run toward him and yet Stefan had somehow intercepted them and she had felt guilty ever since then that she had not hugged Damon.

She had been such a liar saying Damon had lost her forever. If anything their friendship had gotten stronger and yet she was keeping him at arms length with her focus on Stefan and now this Klaus thing and before everything with Katherine. Damon had seemed more snarky with her too, sarcastic and casual like nothing mattered to him as all. But she could tell he was being fake. It was just a mask to hide the real vulnerability underneath.

She closed her eyes, willing sleep to come as the storm pounded outside. Morning would not be far away and then she would have to face him again. And Stefan and everything that seemed so messed up between all of them right now.

* * *

Elena drifted, feeling the sleep take her. What she didn't see was the breath of movement as Damon blurred in a second to her side and stood over her sleeping form. He gazed down at her and ran the back of his palm over her cheek. She didn't move, her heart stayed steady and slow in sleep. He stayed over her watching, staring, longing…

A few beats later Elena was moving, her head going back and forth on the pillow as a slight whimper escaped her lips. Damon frowned. He moved to place his hand on her forehead, closing his eyes to take him into the dream with her. Why was she scared? Where did she think she was?

* * *

 _He could smell blood, and could hear her whimpered crying in her dream state. It was fully dark around him wherever he was. He couldn't even see with his vampire vision._

 _The sound of clothes tearing raced to his sensitive eardrums and he almost fell back as he heard her cry out, loud before it was muffled whimpers again. What the hell was happening to her! Why couldn't he save her?_

 _Damon was running his hands all around him in the dark trying to find where she was. He heard the sounds of bodies crashing together, hitting the wall too. The smell of blood was still so strong. Who was hurting her? How could he pull her out of this?_

 _Just as he thought he might have found her in the dark he felt himself pushed back, hard and he fell stumbling with nothing to grab onto. It felt like a rushing of wind in his head whipped around them and this time he could see. But it felt like a completely different scene._

 _There were shadows, this time, not faces but shadows in front of him. He could make out Elena's hazy figure, her long legs looked bare as she was crying in the corner. She was panting hard struggling to catch her breath as she watched what was happening in front of her. Her face looked bruised, a huge cut was on her cheek, her hair matted with what looked like blood from what he could see! Holy f.._

 _Damon saw it looked like a black button down shirt that was much to big on her was her only clothing too. Someone had hurt her? Beaten her? Stripped her of her clothes?! What the fuck had happened to her?!_

 _The shirt looked like it could have been his, its buttons were torn and it had blood and holes in it. He saw her shiver at coolness of the air on her bare legs. Her hair wasn't just tangled but soaked too and she looked to be trembling, curled into herself._

 _Damon could not explain it but he felt fear. Her fear, like he was one with her own mind, not just a traveler in it. The fear was swallowing her whole, wrapping its twisted evil fingers around her. She was blinking rapidly maybe hoping that what she was seeing was not real._

 _Even Damon shut his eyes trying to will her away and to come to him in her mind. Away from the horrors he was seeing. But this image would not let go of either of them._

 _He could see make out Stefan standing tall, the muscles in his chest tight, his face a combination of determination and pure fear too. He held a tree branch, sharpened to a point like a stake at one end and he spun it in his hand and he walked away from her and toward where Damon had been stuck standing, watching unable to move to help either of them._

 _Elena was crying and gasping for breath as he followed her gaze and saw where his brother was walking.._

 _Someone turned away from him was on his knees, chains around his wrists behind his back. His skin was glistening with sweat down, running in trails down his bare back. Dark hair was shimmering in the dim light. Damon could feel the pain in ELena's shared look with the hidden man._

 _"Close your eyes," the man kneeling choked out._

 _Damon could see tears as the person turned his head. His voice sounded so familiar…Then the man's head turned toward him and away from her as tears spilled silently down his cheeks._

 _Damon gasped. He was looking right at himself!_

 _He was the man on the ground...on his knees with chains around his wrists! Why the hell was Elena dreaming this?!_

* * *

Realization of what he was seeing hit him like a freight train and he froze in an instant ripping himself from her mind and she threw her head up almost hitting him in her panic. Elena's eyes were wide as her head darted around. She was panting so hard he had no idea how she was still breathing.

Her eyes focused, her face scrunching up as she whimpered and cried. His hands cupped her face, waiting for her eyes to find his. "Elena, its okay. It was just a dream...a nightmare."

"Damon?" she whispered shakily. He nodded to her and without another word she flung her arms around his neck and clung to him.

He held her, sitting up on her bed as she cried in his arms. It had felt SO real to him too. What the fuck was that? Was Klaus trying to get into her dreams in her head? Did he have witches? Part of him wanted to solve this. Go to Stefan in the tomb and ask him about it. Ask Bonnie, anyone. But the other part of him reveled in having his arms around her.

It was such a foreign feeling to be so close to her like this and he held on, telling himself that she had him, everything in him was hers, heart and soul. If she needed him he would be there and right now he was so glad he took the risk of coming up to her window to ask to be let in. He could have stayed under the awning of her house, away from the rain but he didn't take protecting her lightly.

Damon held her as she laid against his chest, her fingers had snaked up to grip the edges of his collar, holding on for dear life. He shushed her and rocked her, his head right by hers, his mouth by her ear. Murmuring over and over that it would be okay. He was right here...

* * *

 **A/N I'd Love to hear your thoughts on if this is even a good idea to redo this book. Let me know if you like it.**

 **Please favorite, follow and take a minute to review. It always inspires me to write more and quicker when I know people are eagerly awaiting more.**

 **This version might be much different than the original so I am debating deleting that one completely.**


	2. Don't Ever Forget That

His lips were against her hair, his palm stroking up and down the long, soft brunette locks. Elena was laying against his chest, clinging to him, her heart racing. Damon had no idea where that horrific nightmare came from but he was so glad he had been there for her.

They had not _ever_ been this close before. She had hugged him once, when they found out Katherine wasn't in the tomb and he had been reeling with shock and his emotions, his vulnerability he kept safely hidden was raw that night. She had come to him and put her arms around him saying she was so sorry.

He had never experienced that kind of compassion from anyone in his whole 170 years and he had frozen, not even knowing how to react. Running his fingers through her hair and whispering that he was right there seemed to be all she needed and Damon just let her hold him. Elena being so close made him literally ache inside and he forced himself to suppress a moan wanting to be let free. She felt so good in his arms.

Since finding out Katherine had never been trapped, had left, not caring about him at all, he had been such a mess. And withthe doppel bitch back now, her games, messing with him and Stefan, just seemed to spiral him more. He hated how he had acted when he was unhinged from the way Katherine treated him. He wasn't thinking straight after she had rejected him and then after drinking down half the Mystic Grill's alcohol supply, him showing up in Elena's bedroom was such a bad idea.

Damon tried to kiss her, to get her to admit that she felt something for she had literally pulled his hands away from her face, turning away from his tender kiss. It broke him apart inside when Elena said, just as Katherine did that it was always going to be Stefan.

The rejection stung instantly, the pain deep, like she had stabbed him in the heart with a stake. He had reacted without thinking when Jeremy interrupted them and he still hated that he let the monster caged inside him free for even a second. A few seconds was all it took and he had snapped Jeremy's neck.

He had heard her cries to stop but ignored everything except the agony of being alone, of never being anyone's first choice, or being worth loving at all.

Elena sniffled and yet still continued to lay against his chest, her fingers gripping the edges of his shirt tightly. Other than saying it was okay and that he was here, he stayed quiet. Damon was just waiting for the moment that she would pull away from him, apologize and again remind him that it was _always_ going to be Stefan. He knew it was coming and yet his broken, rejected heart saw the intimacy of holding her worth how she would react once she composed herself.

Damon found himself questioning _why_ he had compelled her to forget that he loved her just a few nights ago. Bringing her necklace back he had waited for her to come out of the bathroom and moved forward, holding it up in between his fingers. He had to take a few deep breaths to keep his hand from shaking as he held it out to her.

She was the only person that made him feel so nervous, so vulnerable, like she could see behind his masks without even trying. He rehearsed in his head a few times how he wanted to say what he needed to tell her so he looked his cool confident self when he stood in front of her.

Damon had to tell her that night. He felt like he would explode if he didn't. But he could handle another rejection and before she even had a chance to say anything in response he had stolen that moment back from her.

His soft raven hair fell against hers as he bent his head lower, tilting her chin up to find her eyes. They were rimmed red with more tears wanting to flow as he gazed lovingly at her. He wanted to take all that fear away. He had no idea where a nightmare that real and vivid had come from. She obviously had been really shaken up by it too.

In that moment, in the darkness of her room, with the sounds of the storm raging outside he wanted her to know so damn badly that he loved her. He wanted to give her that memory back, have her see the tender way he looked at her and feel his kiss on her forehead. He wanted her to know how much his whole being longed for her.

Elena had not moved and was curled up on his lap as he sat on the edge of the bed. Leaning her back more he felt her shiver, as he moved one finger down the side of her face, tucking a strand of her silky brown hair behind her ear. She had sat up more in his embrace, her hands sliding down from where she had gripped his shirt, to rest on his chest against the thin material.

Damon leaned in, his heart pounding hard as he heard hers racing as well. Did she want this as much as he did? Would she betray Stefan's trust? Hell, would _he_ do that to his only brother?

He fought to hide how nervous he was, not sure if he was scared she would push him away, or pull him closer. "Elena," he breathed out, his voice barely a whisper. His palm moved up to cup her face.

"Damon," she whimpered just a breathlessly, her chest heaving, pressing her breasts covered only in the thin tank top against his chest.

"Mmm hmm?" he found himself saying, hearing the question in her tone.

"You would have died for me today wouldn't you...with Elijah coming at us?"

He nodded slowly, wetting his lips. He heard the emotion in her voice and slowly started closing his eyes, moving closer till his lips were a breath away from hers. She still had not pulled away from him. Her hands moved to slide down his arms now. "I would do anything to protect you Elena," he said softly.

Breaths ragged, he bent the fraction of an inch to her lips, but she turned her head at the last second and let out a soft whimper.

"Damon, we can't," she whispered, her head still against his as his lips ended up caressing her cheek and he kissed her anyway, down away from her lips and across her jaw. "I can't." She blinked and moved further back, off his lap but he moved closer, closing the distance again. "I won't...do that to St.."

He put a finger against her lips before his brothers name was uttered. He could not bear to be reminded of Stefan right then. He was already shattering inside from her rejection...again. Why the hell did he do that to himself?

"Please, don't say it...please," he begged, his finger still resting on the smooth softness of her lips.

Elena was shaking her head at him. "I can't," she said again, gripping his wrists, looking like she was going to pull his hands off of her, but they stayed still.

He nodded at her, dropping his head to hers, understanding far too well. "I know...but if you could?" He squinted up at her with the tiniest bit of hope in his sparkling blue eyes. He was sure he didn't want to hear her answer but he had to ask.

"I can't go there Damon. It's not right. I feel like I'm cheating on Stefan just sitting here like this with you." Elena pulled his hands from her face, backed up more against her headboard, away from him.

Damon let them fall, laying his hands back in his lap. "I wanted you to hug me…back at the abandoned house, when Stefan and I saved you from Elijah."

His gaze dropped to her own fingers, wringing the blanket nervously. He moved his hand to curl around hers, lacing their fingers together. "I wanted to hold you Elena. Seeing the relief on your face that you were safe...after I had staked Elijah to the door." His voice to just over a whisper. "I wanted to hold you. I wanted to be your hero in that one moment."

His eyes stayed down, staring at the white sheets and soft down comforter she was tucked in. Damon saw her brown eyes widen in the near darkness. "Damon, please stop," she mumbled sadly, trying to untangle their hands, but he held on, stupidly asking for more rejection.

He didn't want to stop. He was so drunk on his own despair that he barely knew what he was saying or doing. "Why is it such a surprise that I thought you would kiss me back?" He tilted his head up, really wanting to know. "I can hear your heart racing Elena. How it speeds up when I'm close to you."

Damon felt her body shudder, releasing a shaky breath. He reached out again and ran his fingers through her hair, weaving them in and out watching the dark tresses tangle around his hand.

"See, like that," he murmured. "Your heart raced faster just now again Elena. Don't tell me I'm imagining things."She was shaking her head in denial. He knew what her body was saying even if her head was saying differently.

He wanted to get her to confess that she was lying to herself. He could _feel_ the electricity racing between them right now. He took in a deep breath and dared to ask one more time. "Elena, is it so wrong for me to think that means you want me too? Can't you feel it?" His baby blue eyes implored her in his magnetic, emotion filled gaze as he lifted her hand to kiss the skin of her knuckles before releasing it.

He saw her swallow hard, staring back at him with those soul deep brown eyes of hers. She had him wrapped around her little finger and he would come back again and again to be rejected on just the slimmest chance that she would finally give in to what he had felt the second he laid eyes on her.

"I don't know what I want." Elena looked back up in his eyes as he lifted his hand to caress her cheek again. Damon was surprised. That was a step up from 'Its always going to be Stefan.'

He saw her blood racing beneath the surface of her skin. She was blushing, he could see it all over her as her robe slipped from her shoulder. What he was saying _was_ affecting her. "Please Elena just one taste. One kiss to show you there is something there," he begged her.

Damon knew this was so wrong but he wanted it so fucking badly. He had just promised Stefan that he would protect her, no matter what when he saw him in the tomb. He meant it with all of his heart that he would keep her safe.

Well he was being the stellar brother right now wasn't he? Hell who was to say though that Katherine could not be having her way with Stefan in the tomb as they spoke?

Elena had slowly been backing away from him till he had trapped her against the headboard. She was panting heavily, her eyes wide. She looked to actually be thinking over his proposition. Either that or she had not quite found the words to turn him down again.

Damon was silent, his eyes pleading her for any kind of chance. It was crazy he knew to literally ask her to cheat on Stefan, but that bad boy part of him wanted to know how solid baby bros relationship really was.

Her lips parted and her eyes sought his. "Damon, I can't do that to you or Stefan or me. I love Stefan," she declared again.

He loved _her_ , he wanted to just blurt out.

"You can't keep doing this." Elena sounded more confident even as she took his hands in hers and squeezed them. "I care about you I do,"

He pulled his hands from hers and stood up fast, hearing the exact words she had spoken when she was fighting his hands on her face as his lips had touched hers for barely a second the night of Founder's day.

"Damon please. I know I said you had lost me forever before and truthfully I am scared of you racing out of here and doing something stupid right now. But I am your friend Damon. We found our way back to that. I do care and you have shown me since then that you and I can be friends."

Elena had stood up instantly after him and was pulling on his waist but he remained with his back to her, his palms up on the wall in front of him.

He jerked when he felt her hands around him, trying to turn him back around to her. But he was done. It hurt too much. "I won't...do something stupid, like last time," he told her and he heard her let out a breath in relief.

Elena stopped trying to turn him around and walked to her door and opened it standing back. "I think you need to leave Damon. Sleep downstairs or go home. I'll be fine really. This with us...its just... too hard right now."

He was nodded and sped to the bathroom to grab his jacket and was by the door ready to leave in a flash. She was right. It was too hard. Too hard to be in the same room with her and not kiss her senseless, too hard to inhale her scent and not press his lips to hers and damn well too hard not to tell her how much he loved her, knowing the rejection that would follow.

"Yes, yes it is," he agreed not looking at her. But just before he blurred out of her bedroom he rushed forward, dropping his jacket on the floor and trapped her against the wall beside the door. His hands were up on either side of her head, his palms flat on the wall. Damon's whole body was lightly pressed to hers and he felt her heart pounding so hard between them.

Elena had shivered as he bent his head, his mouth so close to her ear. "I will protect you Elena," he whispered, his breath warm against her cheek. Damon bent still lower, his lips just barely brushing the skin of her jaw. "I _would_ have died for you...as you saw today..." She stayed pinned under him and he kissed her softly, tenderly, trailing more kisses down her neck as he heard her heart racing and her struggle to breathe. "So _Don't._ _E_ _ver_ forget that."

* * *

And in a blink he was gone, grabbing his jacket and out the door in a gust of wind against her overheated skin. She stood there for a moment before sliding down the wall and closing her eyes. Tugging her robe more onto her shoulders she wrapped it tight around her now trembling body.

She didn't think she would _ever_ forget that.

Elena lay for hours not sleeping and running everything that had happened over and over in her head. Damon had been so vulnerable with her, so soft and she had felt herself melting at the gentle caresses and the feel of his lips on her neck.

She tossed and turned and kept looking back at her closed and locked window. Was she waiting for him to come running back to her? No, she had hurt him, rejected him again, just like the night he killed Jeremy. He promised this time not to do anything stupid.

Sighing she ran her hand over her face, brushing the wisps of hair back as she stared at the ceiling. Why was she even thinking of him that way? In any way? He was dangerous, and lashed out when things went wrong, and hurt people, killed them and yet somehow he had gotten under her skin and she lay there thinking of what would have happened if she had let him kiss her.

She had been pressed against the headboard, feeling his strong arms encircling her. She had been able to literally taste his breath on her face he had been so close. Everything about him felt like it rushed through her in that moment, as he waited, patiently and yet with the slightest bit of excitement in his eyes. He had already looked to have put up more walls when she had turned away from his kiss and now all it took to get him to back off was her words, as shaky and unsure they felt coming out.

Elena knew she did the right thing by Stefan and her relationship but she had hard time denying that Damon's lips on her cheek, her jaw and her neck, teasing her, giving her just a tiny taste of what it could be like to be with him had made her heart race in her chest.

And he knew it. Her body had not lied to him even when the rest of her was not ready or in any way going to betray Stefan to be with him. But just that taste, had been more than she had felt between her and Stefan in the throes of passion with him.

There was something there and she damn well knew it.

Deciding sleeping was not happening for her, Elena finally threw her covers off and sat up. She slid her cold feet into slippers and padded downstairs. Part of her wished he was there on her couch and he hadn't gone home like she told him.

Turning the corner downstairs she looked around in the dim light from the stove. No one was there, not in the living room or the kitchen anywhere. Had he seriously gone and watched her from outside again, in the pouring rain?

She pulled her robe closed more, hugging the edges to her chest. She saw him instantly when she stepped onto the porch. He was leaning back against the house, almost directly below her window. His jacket was zipped up tight and his hands in his pockets, his legs crossed at the ankles. There was the smallest over hang around the sides of the house and the back and Damon had tucked himself in close enough to the doors and her window and just stood there.

Elena pulled her thin robe tighter around her now shivering body. What the hell was she doing? "Damon?" she called and he looked up. She motioned him closer and when he didn't move she raced through the rain pelting the siding even under the overhang till she was standing in front of him.

He looked up at her his emotions well reined in, the cool, cocky masks back in place. "What Elena? What else can you torture me with tonight?" His tone was low, the words clipped.

She wiped the droplets from her face, wrapping the robe around her more, now wishing she had taken a jacket with her. Damon was angry with her no doubt there, but even with the fiery look in his piercing blue eyes, he immediately shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders, pulling her in closer to him and out of the rain.

"Elena what the hell are you doing out here? You are going to get sick," Damon snapped at her, already turning her to go back toward the door.

She fought his grip shaking her head back and forth, the water spraying out from her now wet hair. "I was worried about you Damon. I didn't mean you needed to sleep outside!" She hadn't meant to upset him at all but he had to stop with all the flirting. It was too hard, like she had said.

"I'm fine. I don't get sick like you frail humans do. You are asking for a cold dressed like you are!"

Elena felt the warmth of the inside of his jacket and already was feeling better. She could take in his scent from the collar too even amidst the strong fresh smell of the rain. Instead of moving toward the door she chose to step closer to him, and he stepped back till his back was against the wall and she was out of the rain entirely.

"Elena, just get back inside. I am fine!" he almost snarled out. She had barely started shaking her head again when she felt him grab her and blur them back around the house and in the door slamming it behind them.

In the blink of an eye she found herself up on the island as he vamped away again and was back with a thick blanket he must have found from the hall closet. Damon wrapped the blanket around her, tucking it in around her trembling body.

Her head went up, the ends of her hair wet and dripping onto his arms that were rubbed up and down on her blanket covered legs. His tone changed the moment they had gotten inside. She could see the worry on his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked gently. It seemed like his anger had dissipated at least somewhat. She nodded without saying anything back, her gaze falling back down from his eyes to watching him rub his hands up and down on her legs. She could still feel his touch through the blanket and she smiled up at him that he was trying to warm her.

Elena looked back up in his concerned ocean blue eyes, nodding.

"Good, because part of protecting you is from your own stupid decisions," he snarked at her. "I thought we were done with you being stupid."

Elena locked eyes with him, bristling from his antagonistic remark. She glared up at him. "And I thought you were done being a jack ass?"

Damon pursed his lips, almost looking pouty at her she raised her eyebrows in retort.

"Hmm, Noted, I'll see if I can make any _improv_ _e_ _ments_. But I thought you loved my ass?"

" _Damon_ ," she warned him as his hands had wandered all the way up her body and now tucked her hair back behind her on top of the blanket. _And_ the flirting, sexy vampire was back and she rolled her eyes at his daring comments.

He shook himself as if from a trance as his eyes were wide and dilated, almost black in the dim light. No one had come to investigate the slammed door or any noise they were making.

"Fine, fine Elena. Your choice...as always." She shot him another exasperated look and he averted his eyes, concentrating on rubbing her body more through the blanket. "There we go, all warm and cozy. Do you need me to escort you to your room yet too Miss. Gilbert?"

" _Damon_ ," she scolded him again. "You don't have to pretend with me. I'm sorry really...I am." She looked at him sadly, seeing the aloof and cocky vampire was hiding behind his protective walls again.

He cleared his throat, his palms now down on the counter on either side of her legs. "Oh I'm not pretending Elena. You made yourself perfectly clear where we stood so I'm just being the good little vampire and respecting that. Brother's girl and all."

She nearly jumped as she felt his fingers in her hair again, his thumb caressing her cheek.

"What are you sorry for? Just...so we are clear?" he murmured, stroking her hair between his fingers.

Elena was feeling whiplash when he went from cocky and snarky to soft and tender so quickly. She had no idea how to feel.

"Are you sorry that you went out in the rain, or that you pushed me away when I went to kiss you, or that you kicked me out of your room, or that you tried to get yourself killed by offering yourself to the damn Originals or that you are sorry you are dating baby bro? _Or_ are you sorry your blood smells so damn delicious...what? Which is it? Did I miss anything?"

Elena was getting more uncomfortable the more things he listed everything that was between them. Her blood? He thought about how her blood smelled? "Damon please," she whimpered. "I'm really sorry for everything. Really." She pulled her gaze back up to his tortured azure eyes.

"Really?" he asked again, pausing to run his finger down her cheek. Her heart jumped in her chest again and she knew he had heard it.

She nodded slowly "Yes really. I never meant to hurt you."

He moved closer, pulling her with his other hand to the edge of the counter. His jean clad hips nudging between her legs and he pulled her in against him. "So you are sorry you didn't kiss me?" She felt his words just hanging in the silence around them and she could not think of what to reply.

She was lying to herself and _had_ imagined kissing him. She had dreamed of him and even dancing with him at the Miss Mystic pageant she let her guard down, just for the dance and was overwhelmed with how sexy he was. She had never let herself think of him like that before and not since...till now.

Elena opened her mouth, to resist, to tell him again that it was always going to be Stefan. Her eyes were wide as she took in a deep breath before hurting him again. It didn't feel right. Everything about him felt wrong and yet so so right. Why wasn't she letting him kiss her? Her tangled and very aroused mind actually had forgotten for a second.

Kiss him! Her inner voice screamed at her. She was the fire, the Petrova fire the Salvatore's said she had. In that second everything in her wanted to crush his lips to hers and hang onto him no matter what in her life flew out of control.

Just as she was about to answer, and she wasn't really sure what that answer was till it came out her mouth, she felt his soft and so so warm lips pressed lightly to her forehead.

She felt him hold her head there, his fingers pulling on the back of her neck. He had frozen and she didn't move at all either. She breathed him in, the fresh rain scent mixed with bourbon and manly cologne and woodsmoke.

"Goodnight Elena. Stay safe and I will be right here." Damon smiled as he pulled away and blurred out the door closing it behind him before she could say a word back at him.

Elena sat leaning back on her hands on the island before jumping down and heading upstairs. It was then that she realized she was still wearing his jacket as it rubbed along the blankets edge. At first she was ready to run back out there to bring it to him. But she thought the better of getting all wet again, when he had so sweetly dried her off.

She tossed the blanket back down on the edge of her bed and laid down between the sheets. Elena had

curled the edges of his jacket around her shoulders, smelling him even stronger now.

Sighing she realized she was in such a mess. Katherine had loved both of them. Her mother Isobel had literally said Damon was in love with her. Elena loved Stefan and he didn't deserve how complicated her feelings were getting.

Maybe things would look better in the morning. She yawned and tucked the collar of his jacket under her nose. Maybe sensing him so close, would help keep her nightmares at bay. She had to try to at least get a few hours of sleep.

Yes things would look better in the morning. She would go see Stefan, even just for a few minutes and come right back. Damon would not even know she was gone.

She would try to figure out more of her feelings tomorrow...

* * *

 **Please take a minute and review and I would love to know if you loved this chapter or what you thought of exploring more DE and more of her internal confusion about Damon at this time. When I started this my first ever ff years ago I hadn't fallen for Damon instantly like so many of you did. And so EBB did reflect that and I wanted to make it more accurate to my head over heels feelings for them now and represent a different way they could have fallen in love.**

 **Much love to everyone taking the time to read this version. I plan to write for a long time yet and have more ideas coming to me all the time. This is my me time, my solace and DE was the first couple I ever felt lead to write for. No one even comes close to them for me.**


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